France

PARIS, April 4 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France reported on Saturday that 5,273 people were in intensive care units for COVID-19, a rise of 19 from the previous day.

That followed one of the biggest daily jumps in months on Friday, just as France enters a third national lockdown in an effort to stem the pandemic.

Meanwhile, Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire said the French economy will expand by 5 per cent in 2021 as a third lockdown to tackle the coronavirus pandemic has prompted a downward revision in the previous government forecast for 6 per cent growth.

PARIS (Reuters) -The French government has reached the outline of a deal with the European Commission on a state-backed refinancing package to help strengthen Air France-KLM’s balance sheet, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Sunday.

Le Maire, speaking on LCI TV, declined to comment on the amount involved. He confirmed that the airline group’s board was due to meet on Monday to discuss and approve the package, as successive coronavirus shutdowns take their toll.

PARIS, April 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The severity of crop losses driven by heat waves and drought have tripled in the last fifty years in Europe, according to a study that highlights the vulnerability of food systems to climate change.

Research published recently in the journal Environmental Research Letters, looked at agricultural production in 28 European countries — the current European Union and United Kingdom — from 1961 to 2018.

PARIS (Reuters) -New COVID-19 restrictions in France will impact economic growth this year but it is too early to say by how much, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said on Friday.

President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday ordered France into its third national lockdown and said schools would close for three weeks as he sought to push back a third wave of COVID-19 infections that threatens to overwhelm hospitals.

PARIS (Reuters) - Russia’s ambassador to the U.N. atomic watchdog said on Friday that talks between world powers and Iran over its troubled 2015 nuclear deal had ended and that his assessment was that things were on the right track.

PARIS, March 31 (Xinhua) -- To slow down the coronavirus spread and pave the way for a gradual return to normalcy by mid-May, schools in France will be closed for three weeks and restriction on people's movement, already in force in many regions, will be extended to the whole territory, President Emmanuel Macron announced on Wednesday evening.

Starting from Monday, students, except the children of medics, will move to remote learning for one week before going on two-week holiday.

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron scheduled a televised address to the nation for Wednesday night, a possible harbinger of tighter restrictions to combat surging coronavirus hospitalizations.

Previous nationwide lockdowns in March and October of 2020 were announced by Macron in televised speeches. His office said Wednesday that Macron will address the nation at 8 p.m. (1800 GMT), without saying what he will announce.

PARIS, March 30 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France slammed “blind and deadly” violence in Myanmar where the ruling junta’s ruthless crackdown left more than 100 people dead on Saturday, during the deadliest weekend since the military coup.

“The security forces in Myanmar have reached a new stage in blind and deadly violence … and have again used arms against the population, killing more than 100, including very young children,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a statement.

PARIS (Reuters) - The French government and the European Union’s executive are close to an agreement on the terms of a bailout for Air France, which like other carriers has been hammered by the coronavirus pandemic, Le Monde reported.

The expected deal would see Air France give up fewer airport flight slots at its Paris base than initially sought by the European Commission, notably at Orly airport, the newspaper said in a report published late on Friday.

25 Mar 2021; MEMO: French President Emmanuel Macron announced on Tuesday that his country would reopen its embassy in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, next Monday.

"From Monday, our embassy in Tripoli will be reopened and our ambassador will be able to return to your country," conveyed Macron to President of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed Al-Menfi, in Paris.

In 2014, the French diplomatic mission office in Libya closed, although it remained active.